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Monday, July 30, 2012

#346: Andy Schlafly

We won’t
describe the antics of Andrew Layton Schlafly in too much detail; there is simply
too much to mention (do check out the Lenski affair,
though), and he has an extensive biography here
(or here,
for one that sacrifices accuracy in favor of non-offensiveness). Schlafly is a
blogger, conservative conspiracy theorist and – most famously – the owner of
Conservapedia (famously described by his mother Phyllis: “He has started this thing on the
Internet. I don't know what to call it.” Indeed). Schlafly is known to be
currently undefeated in any debate due to his deployment of the Schlafly
Reversal,
the Schlafly Stretch,
the Schlafly Rearguard,
the Schlafly Slip,
Schlafly Statistics,
and the fact that he can just ban anyone who disagrees with him from his site.
As Richard Carnes aptly put it “... arguing with Andy is like playing chess
with a small child who doesn't know the rules”.

He is, of
course, a Young Earth Creationist located somewhere around Ray Comfort and Linda Kimball. Combining his
creationism, crackpottery, wingnuttery, American Exceptionalism,
endorsement of theocracy, Taliban fundamentalism, extreme conspiracy theory
adherence, racism, misogyny, self-aggrandizing delusions (he purports to have
superior expertise in, among other things, anthropology, astronomy, biblical
scholarship and translation, the entertainment industry, microbiology,
nutrition, oncology, psychiatry, mathematics, relativity, statistics, and world
history)
and general bigotry, he eventually launched the still dimmest, most powerful
black hole of insanity (and bigotry) on the Internet (yes, Schlafly wins that
one; no mean feat): Conservapedia (whale.to isn’t even in the running for that one).

Constructed
to rectify the liberal bias of Wikipedia, Conservapedia (Newcomers’ guide here)
is governed not by the definitional schema “x is liberal, hence x is evil”, but
by “x is evil, hence x is liberal”, and the law that anything Schlafly does not
particularly fancy is dismissed as “liberal evolutionist abortionist claptrap”
(such as the idea that the Greek wrote comedies (disproven by the fact that
humor cannot exist without Christianity) or that anything “useful has ever been
built based on the theory of relativity” – in fact, relativity is a liberal
plot).
Conservapedia is constructed to meet the educational needs of homeschoolers, and Schlafly
offers courses on selected scientific topics for homeschooled kids. He considers
Conservapedia to be one of the greatest achievements throughout history
(special mention goes to one of the most active sysops, the Unification Church
member Ed Poor,
who must rank as one of the most incompetent human beings ever to have walked
the earth).

Understandably,
he is openly contemptuous of credentialed experts, especially when they disagree
with his uncited assertions – much is summed up by his slogan “Don't read a
book to learn, write a book to learn”. He has also suggested that editing
Conservapedia is a better way to learn than “reading a book, attending a
seminar, ... discussing with people” (“Most books (other than the Bible) are
liberal claptrap”) and that “[i]n merely a few spare minutes or hours, the
participants in The Conservative Bible Project have learned more than they
could have after spending 10x or 100x many hours in any other medium”.

A “Best of
Conservapedia” list is here.
One among innumerable favorites: “Atheistic theories of the origin of the Moon,
widely taught for decades despite lacking the falsifiability requirement of
science (see Philosophy of science), have been proven false”.
For regular updates on the activities on Conservapedia, you can visit this one
(or for updates on Conservapedia in the news, this one).

Diagnosis:
”Obviously many people refuse to read the Bible and thus miss out on the
benefit of its foreknowledge. Had scientists carefully studied the walking on
water with an open mind, then it may not have taken 1900 years before they
recognized the existence of wave-particle duality. Ditto for many other
phenomena.” [A. Schlafly]

(Roger “I
suspect that high empathy measurements are correlated with an assortment of
psychological problems” Schlafly is Andrew Schlafly’s older brother and has established his own credentials as a
conservative activist with interminable lack of insight (see his take on the
Violence against Women Act here.
He is usually considered to be Andy’s saner counterpart, but Roger’s alleged
sanity is visible only when compared to his brother (or mother). He does not
deserve his own entry, however.)